The Dangerous Book for Boys

Staff Pick

These volumes, The Dangerous Book for Boys and The Daring Book for Girls, are utterly brimming with tips, tools, maps, pictograms, glossaries, advice, game rules, blueprints... you name it! They're fantastic guidebooks for kids. And, truth be told, I learned a lot, too. Recommended by Jenny, Powells.com

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

"In this age of video games and cell phones, there must still be a place for knots, tree houses, and stories of incredible courage. The one thing that we always say about childhood is that we seemed to have more time back then. This book will help you recapture those Sunday afternoons and long summers — because they're still long if you know how to look at them." — Conn Iggulden and Hal Iggulden, The Dangerous Book For Boys

The bestselling book for every boy from eight to eighty, covering essential boyhood skills such as building tree houses, learning how to fish, finding true north, and even answering the age old question of what the big deal with girls is.

In this digital age there is still a place for knots, skimming stones and stories of incredible courage. This book recaptures Sunday afternoons, stimulates curiosity, and makes for great father-son activities. The brothers Conn and Hal have put together a wonderful collection of all things that make being young or young at heart fun — building go-carts and electromagnets, identifying insects and spiders, and flying the world's best paper airplanes.

The completely revised American Edition includes:

The Greatest Paper Airplane in the World

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

The Five Knots Every Boy Should Know

Stickball

Slingshots

Fossils

Building a Treehouse

Making a Bow and Arrow

Fishing (revised with US Fish)

Timers and Tripwires

Baseball's Most Valuable Players

Famous Battles-Including Lexington and Concord, The Alamo, and Gettysburg

Spies-Codes and Ciphers

Making a Go-Cart

Navajo Code Talkers' Dictionary

Girls

Cloud Formations

The States of the U.S.

Mountains of the U.S.

Navigation

The Declaration of Independence

Skimming Stones

Making a Periscope

The Ten Commandments

Common US Trees

Timeline of American History

Review:

"The authors refer to their own experiences as they tested the activities, lending an appealing personal tone....Both premise and content should appeal to many boys, and might be even more successful when nostalgic dads join in." School Library Journal

Synopsis:

Brothers Conn and Hal Iggulden have put together a wonderful collection of all things that make being young or young at heart fun — building go-carts and electromagnets, identifying insects and spiders, or finding true north.

Synopsis:

The bestselling book for boys from eight to 80 covers essential boyhood skills such as building tree houses, learning how to fish, and even answering the age-old question: whats the big deal with girls?

Video

About the Author

Conn Iggulden is the acclaimed author of the Emperor novels, which chronicle the life of Julius Caesar: Emperor: The Gates of Rome, Emperor: The Death of Kings, Emperor: The Field of Swords, and Emperor: The Gods of War, all of which are available in paperback from Dell. He is also the author of the bestselling nonfiction work The Dangerous Book for Boys. He lives with his wife and two children in Hertfordshire, England.

Hal Iggulden is the artistic director of the Holdfast Theatre Company in Leicester, England.

What Our Readers Are Saying

Average customer rating based on 6 comments:

Erica Horne, April 21, 2009 (view all comments by Erica Horne)
Some books you hang onto because they are useful, or well written, or happy memories are associated with them. And then there are the select books that are so handsome, you keep them because of pride of ownership. THE DANGEROUS BOOK FOR BOYS is a keeper in all these categories. It is so durable and well designed, it is an absolute pleasure to hold and read.

As to its actual contents, it sits at the pinnacle of nonfiction for early teen and 'tween boys, alongside The Big Book of Boy Stuff by, er, yours truly. Anyway, the chapters in DANGEROUS BOOK are a glorious, encyclopedic hodge-podge. They range from the historical ("The Golden Age of Piracy") to the esoteric ("Grinding an Italic Nib"!) to the quite daring ("Understanding Grammar").

My kudos to the Brothers Iggulden for this retro look celebrating the secrets of boyhood. And again, neither gender nor age should restrict its readership; this book looks great sitting on anyone's nightstand.

Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No(3 of 6 readers found this comment helpful)

K Bloom, December 24, 2007 (view all comments by K Bloom)
Ostensibly written for boys around 8-12, this book can be enjoyed by boys from 8 to 108.
There's plenty of simple projects to make, a fair amount of history and other topics to read about, like dinosaurs, famous battles and much more, like puzzles and games.
None of the articles are especially long and are sure to be able to hold the interest of the younger reader.
The style of writing is light-hearted and humorous and the book is profusely illustrated.
This book would make great summer reading while off from school and dads may want to order 2 copies so they can have 1 for themselves!! I'd also recommend reading Tino Georgiou's bestselling novel--The Fates--if you haven't yet

Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No(19 of 34 readers found this comment helpful)

These volumes, The Dangerous Book for Boys and The Daring Book for Girls, are utterly brimming with tips, tools, maps, pictograms, glossaries, advice, game rules, blueprints... you name it! They're fantastic guidebooks for kids. And, truth be told, I learned a lot, too.

by Jenny

"Review"
by School Library Journal,
"The authors refer to their own experiences as they tested the activities, lending an appealing personal tone....Both premise and content should appeal to many boys, and might be even more successful when nostalgic dads join in."

"Synopsis"
by Ingram,
Brothers Conn and Hal Iggulden have put together a wonderful collection of all things that make being young or young at heart fun — building go-carts and electromagnets, identifying insects and spiders, or finding true north.

"Synopsis"
by Libri,
The bestselling book for boys from eight to 80 covers essential boyhood skills such as building tree houses, learning how to fish, and even answering the age-old question: whats the big deal with girls?

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